A brilliant debut novel of an epic love story and harrowing journey from Nova Scotia to New Orleans in pre-Revolutionary America.
Inspired by Longfellow's epic poem, Evangeline is a brilliant novel by Ben Farmer. As the British drive the French out of mid- eighteenth century Acadia (present day Nova Scotia), the beautiful seventeen- year-old Evangeline Bellefontaine is torn by British soldiers from her fiancé, Gabriel Lajeunesse, on the eve of their wedding. Heartbroken but determined, Evangeline-along with illegal trapper Bernard Arseneau and priest Felician Abadie-sets out on a ten-year journey to the French-Spanish colony of Louisiana to seek her long-lost love.
War and the collision of imperial interests are among the forces the characters confront throughout their expulsion from their homeland and their hard-won survival in exile. Evangeline's epic quest to find Gabriel brings her and her companions across North America's colonial wilderness, through the French and Indian War, and into New Orleans' rebellion against Spanish rule. It is the strengths and failings of the individuals that drive this grand tale, leading them to bitter confrontations in their search for connection and struggle for survival in a world torn asunder.
The legend of Evangeline is still alive in Nova Scotia and Louisiana, where parks, songs, statues, trees, restaurants, and people bear her name.